When Aubrey O’Day’s name came up in the news linked to an alleged affair with Donald Trump Jr., I was surprised. And then about one second later, I wasn’t. Of course we’re hearing about Aubrey O’Day, and of course it’s in connection to the President. It’s less surprising that it happens to be Trump, but sooner or later, O’Day was going to be involved in a political scandal.

For those uninitiated in the world of Aubrey O’Day, welcome: you’re in for a ride.

Aubrey O’Day is everything our modern American icons are known to be: a singer, a fashion designer, a reality TV star, a woman with some talent. But most of all, a human being that is nothing short of addicted to attention. She’s been on at least 10 different reality shows, the majority of which you have never heard of. And while she’s never quite “made it,” not even in Kardashian terms, she never seems to give up.

O’Day was first and perhaps best known for being a contestant on Diddy’s MTV version of Making the Band in 2005, meaning she was born in the era of Paris Hilton celebrity. It’s been decades, but she has never quite transitioned out of that school. She was one-fifth of the criminally under-appreciated girl group Danity Kane, and after they disbanded for good in 2013 (she was also kicked out in 2008 before rejoining), she set out to remain as relevant as possible to varying degrees of success, meaning she’s been everywhere from Broadway to Playboy. And hey, we’re still talking about her in 2018, so good job O’Day.

In 2011, she landed her own reality show on Oxygen, All About Aubrey, and from there propelled herself into semi-consistent work in reality television, including Celebrity Apprentice in 2012, a guest judge stint on RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2013, popping up on Dance Moms in 2015, was a cast member on Marriage Bootcamp Reality Stars 3 in 2015, Famously Single in 2016, and Celebrity Big Brother 18 in 2016. If you were looking, it was never hard to find her.

All this is to say, of course we’re finding her in the middle of what is a potential political scandal. News broke yesterday, in the midst of his divorce, that Donald Trump Jr. allegedly had an affair with her when she was filming Celebrity Apprentice in 2011. It only adds to what makes her a truly and specifically American woman: the full face of makeup; the pushed up breasts; the vacant look in her eyes; and the scarily determined pursuit of fame. That, and the fact that she wrote a song about their breakup in 2013, like any good student of Britney Spears would do. Of course she was going to be attracted to someone like Trump Jr, who was serving as an “advisor” on the show at the time. This is a woman who craves money and fame and the lifestyle that comes along with that — or at least what one would think comes along with that. Vanessa Trump probably isn’t so thrilled right now with where that lifestyle has landed her and her five children. But she’s no Aubrey.

O’Day represents an American Dream that’s on full display every time you open the Instagram app: a woman who came from and will stop at nothing on the way to fame, to likes and follows, to her own version of (relative) relevance. I tend to be a bit more forgiving when it comes to O’Day, and it’s not simply due to my love for Danity Kane, but the fact that I feel both a bit of pity and proud of her at the same time. While others might consider her public displays to be desperate or fake or fame-whorey, I have respect for the fact that she continues to say yes to “opportunities,” and that she’s self-made at whatever cost that might be.

This woman doesn’t come from a rich famous family, she’s worked her way into tabloids the good old fashioned way: by using her modicum of talent to cling to any TV screen she can and ultimately find her personal life up for very public fodder. But let’s be clear here: she’s no Stormy Daniels. Her sexual proclivities aren’t quite as private as the average American citizen, and not that she would want them to be, but deep down there is a sliver of substance to her.

Aubrey O’Day, much like this presidency, is a product of reality television. Any good producer knows when to bring in the troublemaker to spice things up, and it’s astonishing it’s taken over a year for her to worm her way into the narrative. We, America, made her. And while we can try — and this current news cycle suggests we might be — there’s no taking this girl down.